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The legal and cultural expectations for date and time representation vary between countries, and it is important to be aware of the forms of all-numeric calendar dates used in a particular country to know what date is intended.

Writers have traditionally written abbreviated dates according to their local custom, creating all-numeric equivalents to dates such as '14 September 2019' (14/09/19) and 'September 14, 2019' (09/14/19). This can result in dates that are impossible to understand correctly without knowing the writer's origin and/or other contextual details, as dates such as "10/11/06" can be interpreted as "10 November 2006" in the DMY format, "October 11, 2006" in MDY, and "2010 November 6" in YMD.

The ISO 8601 format (2019-09-14) is intended to harmonize these formats and ensure accuracy in all situations. Many countries have adopted it as their sole official date format, though even in these areas writers may adopt abbreviated formats that are no longer recommended.

For English speakers, MDY was preferred form (mmm-dd-yyyy) (Example: April 9, 2019) and used by nearly all English language publications and media companies as well as majority of English language government documents.[citation needed]

For both French and sometimes English speakers, DMY are used (dd-mmm-yyyy) (Example: 9 April 2019/le 9 avril 2019) and also used in formal letters, academic papers, military, many media companies and even some governmental documents, particularly in French-language ones.

Federal regulations for shelf life dates on perishable goods mandate a year/month/day format, but allow the month to be written in full, in both official languages, or with a set of standardized two-letter bilingual codes such as 2019 JA 07 or 19 JA 07.

National standard format is yyyy-mm-dd (with leading zeroes) and (yy)yy年(m)m月(d)d日 (with or without leading zeroes)

Uyghur languages in Xinjiang usually give date examples in the form 2017-يىل 18-ئاۋغۇست or 2017-8-18 but this form is never used when writing in Chinese;[36] casually many people use (yy)yy/(m)m/(d)d or (yy)yy.(m)m.(d)d (with or without leading zeroes). See Dates in Chinese.

(The format dd.mm.(yy)yy is the traditional Danish date format.[46] The international format yyyy-mm-dd or yyyymmdd is also accepted, though this format is not commonly used. The formats d. 'month name' yyyy and in handwriting d/m-yy or d/m yyyy are also acceptable.[47])

Short format: dd/mm/yyyy (Day first, month number and year in left-to-right writing direction) in Afar, French and Somali ("d/m/yy" is a common alternative). Gregorian dates follow the same rules but tend to be written in the yyyy/m/d format (Day first, month number, and year in right-to-left writing direction) in Arabic language.

Long format: d mmmm yyyy or mmmm dd, yyyy (Day first, full month name, and year or first full month name, day, and year, in left-to-right writing direction) in Afar, French and Somali and yyyy ،mmmm d (Day first, full month name, and year in right-to-left writing direction) in Arabic

Short format: dd/mm/yyyy for Afar, Bilen, English, Saho, Tigre and Tigrinya. Gregorian dates follow the same rules but tend to be written in the yyyy/m/d (Day first, month number and year in right-to-left writing direction) format in Arabic language.

Long format: D MMMM YYYY (Day first, full month name, and year in left-to-right writing direction) for Bilen, English, Tigre and Tigrinya, YYYY ،MMMM D (Day first, full month name, and year in right-to-left writing direction) for Arabic and MMMM DD, YYYY (First full month name, day and year in left-to-right writing direction) for Afar and Saho

The format dd.mm.yyyy using dots (which denote ordinal numbering) is the traditional German date format.[60] Since 1996-05-01, the international format yyyy-mm-dd has become the official standard date format, but the handwritten form d. mmmm yyyy is also accepted (see DIN 5008). Standardisation applies to all applications in the scope of the standard including uses in government, education, engineering and sciences. Since 2006, the old format (d)d.(m)m.(yy)yy is allowed again as alternative to the yyyy-mm-dd format in areas where there is no risk of ambiguation. See Date and time notation in Europe.

Short format: dd/mm/yyyy (Day first, month and year in left-to-right writing direction) in French and Fulah. Gregorian dates follow the same rules but tend to be written in yyyy/mm/dd (Day first, month number, and year in right-to-left writing direction) format in N'ko language.

Long format: D MMMM YYYY (Day first, month and year in left-to-right writing direction) for French and Fulah and YYYY, DD MMMM (First full month name, day, and year in right-to-left writing direction) for N'ko

The year is always written with Arabic numerals.
The number of the month is usually written with Arabic numerals but it also can be written with Roman numerals, or the month's full name can be written out, the first letter not being capitalised.
The day is also written with Arabic numerals.[70][71][72][73]
English language materials use DMY.

In India, the DD-MM-YY is the predominant short form of the numeric date usage. Almost all government documents need to be filled up in the DD-MM-YYYY format. An example of DD-MM-YYYY usage is the passport application form.[76][77][78] Though not yet a common practice, the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) of the Government of India introduced the standard named "IS 7900:2001 (Revised in 2006) Data Elements And Interchange Formats – Information Interchange – Representation Of Dates And Times" which officially recommends use of the date format YYYYMMDD,[citation needed] for example, 20130910 or 2013 09 10, or 2013-09-10 for the date 10 September 2013; in the language Bodo in date format MM/DD/YYYY.

Majority of English-language newspapers and media publications in India use MMMM/DD/YYYY.

Short format: yyyy/mm/dd[79] in Persian Calendar system ("yy/m/d" is a common alternative). Gregorian dates follow the same rules in Persian literature but tend to be written in the dd/mm/yyyy format in official English documents.[80]

Long format: YYYY MMMM D (Day first, full month name, and year in right-to-left writing direction)[79]

National standard format is yyyy-mm-dd (with leading zeroes) and (yy)yy년 (m)m월 (d)d일 (with or without leading zeroes)

English textbooks in South Korea usually give date examples in the form March 24, 2017 but this form is never used when writing in Korean;[96] casually many people use (yy)yy.(m)m.(d)d(.) (with or without leading zeroes, with or without the last full stop).

National standard format is yyyy-mm-dd (with leading zeroes) and yyyy оны (m)m сарын (d)d (with or without leading zeroes)

Traditional Mongolian languages in Mongolia usually give date examples in the form 2017ᠣᠨ ᠵᠢᠷᠭᠤᠳᠤᠭᠠᠷ ᠰᠠᠷ᠎ᠠ 2ᠡᠳᠦᠷ but this form is never used when writing in Mongolian Cyrillic; casually many people use yyyy/(m)m/(d)d or yyyy.(m)m.(d)d (with or without leading zeroes).[111]

dd.mm.yyyy; leading zeroes and century digits may be omitted, e.g., 10.02.16; ddmmyy (six figures, no century digits, no delimiters) allowed in tables. ISO dates yyyy-mm-dd can be used for "technical" purposes. The fraction form d/m-y is incorrect, but is common and considered passable in handwriting. Lule Sami and Southern Sami dates mmmm d. b. yyyy.[122]

Long formats: English: mmmm d, yyyy DMY dates are also used occasionally, primarily by, but not limited to, government institutions such as on the data page of passports, and immigration and customs forms. Filipino: ika-d ng mmmm, yyyy[129] (Note: Month and year can be shortened. Filipino dates may also be written in mmmm d, yyyy format in civil use but still pronounced as above.)

(dd.mm.yyyy)[135][136] Also widely used: (d)d-mmm (3 letters of month name with the notable exception of Nov for November, which would otherwise be noiembrie)-yyyy and (d)d-XII-yyyy (month number as a Roman numeral with lines above AND below, slowly deprecating)

(dd.mm.(yy)yy);[137] more official is d <month in genitive> yyyy <{{lang|ru|г.}} (= ''g.'', short for ''goda'', i.e. ''year'' in genitive)>

Bashkir, Ossetian, Sakha and Tatar languages in Russia usually give date examples in the form 22 май 2017 й, 22 майы, 2017 аз, ыам ыйын 22 күнэ 2017 с., 22 май 2017 ел but this form is never used when writing in Russian.

English-language media and commercial publications use Month-day-year in long format, but only Day-month-year format (both long and short numeric) are used in governmental and other English documents of official contexts.

Lule Sami, Northern Sami and Southern Sami languages in Sweden usually give date examples in the form bårggemáno 31. b. 2001, borgemánu 31. b. 2001, mïetsken 31. b. 2001 but this form is never used when writing in Swedish; casually many people use d/m yyyy or d/m -yy. Another possible format is d.m.yyyy.[150]

Some newspapers[which?] remain using the traditional historical[citation needed] mmmm d, yyyy (or similar) specifically in their banner print date only but use DMY numerically,[169] some use mmmm d, yyyy for both the banner and articles,[170] while others stick to DMY for both.[171]

Also, YMD is used increasingly especially in applications associated with computers, and as per British standard BS ISO 8601:2004,[172] avoiding the ambiguity of the numerical versions of the DMY/MDY formats.

(Civilian vernacular: m/d/yy or m/d/yyyy;[173][174] other formats, including d mmm(m) yyyy and yyyy-mm-dd, are common or prescribed—particularly in military, academic, scientific, computing, industrial, or governmental contexts. See Date and time notation in the United States.)